Friday, June 11, 2010

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Tim and Greg Hildebrandt

The Brothers Hildebrandt, Tim and Greg, are illustrating legends, and I was heavily stoked when I came across this title at a resale shop, stuffed unceremoniously between two lesser books. Pinup girls, Darth Vader, hobbits, and Hollywood monsters have been brought to life in their unmistakable style, so it's only fitting that the greatest creatures to ever walk the Earth should as well. Titled simply Dinosaurs, it was published by Merrigold Press in 1976.

Dig these hairy Pteranodons, buzzing a Pachycephalosaurus. A bonus ChasmoPointTM for not calling them dinosaurs!

Even the Hildebrandts weren't immune to copping a bit of Charles M. Knight's portfolio, though. Witness the latest installment in the Ornitholestes library I'm slowly amassing.

It may look like a man in a suit, but this version of the tyrant king is total evil.

I would like to see a post-renaissance take on dinosaurs from the Hildebrandts - maybe a pulpy, lurid series on Jurassic Park. Something like they did with the original Star Wars poster, you know the one with Luke raising his lightsaber above his head and Leia striking a pose at his feet. Only substitute in Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, with T. rex instead of Darth Vader. I bet their take on the ice cream eating scene would be mind-blowing.

1 comment:

this was always my favorite of all my dinosaur books growing up. I didn't realize till much later who had done the artwork. Such an amazing difference from what you normally see the bros. Hildebrandt doing. I wish they could have done more dinosaurs.